The Jedi Academy Trilogy III Champions of the Force

356 Pages·2011·2.51 MB·English

by  Anderson Kevin J

FALLEN HERO
On a bier at the end of the room lay Luke Skywalker—like a body stretched
out for a funeral.
Leia’s heart thumped with dread. She wanted to turn around and leave so she
wouldn’t have to look at him—but Leia found her feet carrying her forward. She
walked with a rapid step that became a run before she reached the end of the
promenade. Han came carrying the twins, one in each arm. His eyes were red as
he fought to keep tears from flowing. Leia already felt a wetness on her cheeks.
Luke lay in repose, swathed in his Jedi robe. His hair had been combed; his
hands were folded across his chest. His skin looked gray and plasticlike.
“Oh, Luke,” Leia whispered.
She reached out to touch him. Using her abilities with the Force, she tried to
reach deeper, to brush against his life force—but she felt only a cold hole, an
emptiness, as if Luke himself had been taken away.
Not dead.
He could not be dead.…

CHAMPIONS OF THE FORCE
A Bantam Spectra Book / October 1994
All rights reserved.
SPECTRA and the portrayal of a boxed “s” are trademarks of Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
®, TM and © 1994 by Lucasfilm Ltd.
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eISBN: 978-0-307-79613-4
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and
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v3.1
Dedication
To my stepson and
“research buddy”
JONATHAN MACGREGOR COWAN,
who helped me see
“a galaxy far, far away” through
a child’s sense of wonder
Acknowledgments
Much of this novel was written at the Montecito Sequoia Lodge in the
redwood forests of California. Lillie Mitchell, my typist, somehow kept up with
all the microcassettes I dumped on her and egged me to greater speed by asking
“What happens next?” My wife, Rebecca Moesta Anderson, provided
brainstorming and late-night walks to help iron out plot problems, as well as
giving her personal support and love. Tom Veitch helped me work out the
background of Exar Kun and the Dark Lords of the Sith, which we’ve written
into a twelve-issue saga for Dark Horse Comics. My editor, Tom Dupree, trusted
me to deliver everything on time and in good shape (and he even enjoyed the
story!); his assistant, Heather McConnell, kept a million things under control at
once and refrained from hanging up on me whenever I called to pester her. Lucy
Wilson at Lucasfilm helped make this and all of my other Star Wars stories
possible, and her assistant, Sue Rostoni, managed to keep the different projects
from crashing headlong into each other. In our many discussions Ralph
McQuarrie provided a lot more inspiration than he will admit, including
designing the temple of Exar Kun and other parts of the Jedi academy. West End
Games, as usual, provided an enormous amount of valuable reference material
on all aspects of the Star Wars universe. Most of all, I owe thanks to George
Lucas for creating such a wonderful universe and for letting me play in it.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
About the Author
Also by this Author
Introduction to the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Excerpt from Star Wars: I, Jedi
Introduction to the Old Republic Era
Introduction to the Rise of the Empire Era
Introduction to the Rebellion Era
Introduction to the New Republic Era
Introduction to the New Jedi Order Era
Introduction to the Legacy Era
Timeline
1
T
he Sun Crusher plunged into the Caridan system like an assassin’s knife into
an unsuspecting heart.
Old beyond his years, Kyp Durron sat hunched over the controls with dark
eyes blazing, intent on his new target. With the might of the superweapon—as
well as powerful techniques his spectral mentor Exar Kun had taught him—Kyp
would extinguish all threats against the New Republic.
Only days before, he had annihilated Admiral Daala and her two Star
Destroyers in the Cauldron Nebula. On the fringes of the explosion, he had
dropped off one of the Sun Crusher’s coffin-sized message pods so that the
galaxy would know who was responsible for the victory.
As his next target, Kyp would challenge the Imperial military training center
on Carida.
The military planet was a largish world with high gravity to toughen the
muscles of potential stormtroopers. Its untamed land masses provided an
appropriate range of training environments: arctic wastelands, trackless rain
forests, splintered mountain crags, and searing desert hardpan crawling with
venomous multilegged reptiles.
Carida seemed the opposite of Kyp’s peaceful homeworld of Deyer, where he
and his family had lived in raft colonies on the calm terraformed lakes—but that
peace had been shattered years ago when Kyp’s parents had chosen to protest the
destruction of Alderaan. Stormtroopers had crushed the colony, whisking Kyp
and his parents to the spice mines of Kessel while conscripting his brother Zeth
for the stormtrooper training center.
Now, as he orbited the military planet, Kyp’s face bore the tight, hardened
look of a person who has been through the raging fire of his own conscience.
Shadows rimmed his eyes. He did not expect to find his brother still alive after
so many years—but he intended to learn the truth.
And if Zeth was not there, Kyp had enough power to destroy the whole
Caridan solar system.
A week ago he had left Luke Skywalker for dead atop the Great Temple on
Yavin 4. He had stolen design parameters of the Sun Crusher from the mind of
its naive creator, Qwi Xux. And he had blown up five stars to incinerate Admiral
Daala and her two Star Destroyers. At the last moment Daala had tried to flee the
exploding stars, but to no avail. The shock waves had been intense enough to
blank the Sun Crusher’s viewscreens even as fire overtook Daala’s flagship, the
Gorgon.
Since that awesome victory Kyp’s obsession had gained momentum, and he
had set out on a hyperspeed course toward annihilating the Empire.…
The Caridan defense network spotted the Sun Crusher as Kyp entered orbit.
He decided to transmit his ultimatum before the Imperial forces tried anything
stupid. He broadcast on a wide range of frequencies.
“Caridan military academy,” he said, trying to deepen his voice. “This is the
pilot of the Sun Crusher.” His mind searched for the name of the ambassadorial
buffoon who had caused a diplomatic incident on Coruscant by tossing his drink
in Mon Mothma’s face. “I wish to speak to … Ambassador Furgan to discuss
the terms of your surrender.”
The planet below made no response. Kyp stared at the comm system, waiting
for noise to burst from the speaker.
His alarm consoles flashed as the Caridans attempted to lock on to the Sun
Crusher with a tractor beam, but Kyp worked the controls with Jedi-enhanced
speed, oscillating his orbit at random so they could never get a positive lock.
“I am not here to play games.” Kyp’s hand bunched into a fist and slammed
down on the comm unit. “Carida, if you do not answer within the next fifteen
seconds, I’ll fire a torpedo into the heart of your sun. I think you’re familiar with
the capabilities of this weapon. Do you understand?”
He began counting out loud. “One … two … three … four …” He got up to
eleven before a brusque voice came through the comm system.
“Intruder, we are transmitting a set of landing coordinates. Follow them
precisely or you will be destroyed. Relinquish control of your ship to the
stormtroopers immediately upon landing.”
“You don’t seem to understand what’s going on here,” Kyp said before he
bothered to stop laughing. “Let me talk to Ambassador Furgan now or your
planetary system is going to be the galaxy’s newest bright spot. I’ve already
blown up a nebula to wipe out a pair of Imperial battle cruisers—don’t you think
I’d destroy one minor star to get rid of a planet full of stormtroopers? Get
Furgan, and give me a visual.”
The holo panel flickered, and the wide, flat face of Furgan appeared, shoving
aside the comm officer. Kyp recognized the ambassador by his heavy eyebrows
and fat purplish lips.
“Why have you come here, Rebel?” Furgan said. “You are in no position to
make demands.”
Kyp rolled his eyes, losing patience already. “Listen to me, Furgan. I want to